20 Jul
Arts & Culture, Culture, Latest, Misc, Religion

No Gaga Here: Extreme Summer Camps in the Middle East

By Rebecca Borison While I grew up at a Jewish summer camp playing Gaga, kids growing up in slightly (read: very) different areas than me are partaking in slightly (read: very) different activities in summer camp. The Times of Israel recently published two separate articles on Extreme Summer Camps. The first article discusses a Hamas-run Gaza summer camp, where “activities include walking on knives, cleaning beaches and experiencing life as a security prisoner in an Israeli jail.” Five days later, the Times of Israel released a second article about a right-wing camp in Ramat Migron, where the girls learn “self-defense techniques, how to construct temporary dwellings and basic agriculture.” So we have two camps representing the extremes of Israelis and Palestinians. But let’s take a closer look at these camps. We’ll start with camp “We will live honorably”...

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12 Jul
Uncategorized

United (Nations) We Fall

By Adina Rosenthal Anthony Weiner may have proved that social media can reveal the naked truth, but a far more stark reality has emerged from the personal blog of the United Nations Special Rapporteur to the Palestinian Territories, Richard Falk.  Earlier this month, he posted a cartoon on his personal blog depicting a dog on a leash wearing a kippah bearing the Star of David, bloodied by chewing on a pile of bones while urinating on his owner, Lady Justice. In response, both the United States and Jewish groups like the Anti-Defamation League, have called for U.N. Human High Commissioner, Navi Pillay, to condemn Falk, and demanded his resignation. Though initially denying the cartoon’s anti-Semitic connotations, as Falk himself is Jewish, he eventually deleted the post and issued an apology, claiming he did not see the Jewish...

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24 Feb
Uncategorized

NGOs Fail Palestinian Women at the UN

By Paula Kweskin In April 2010, a 32-year-old woman was shot to death in a town in the northern Gaza Strip.  Several men, including her father, were arrested for the crime.  A year prior, a girl from a Palestinian village south of Qalqilya was smothered to death by her brother.  In 2005, a father murdered two of his daughters and badly injured a third for an alleged sexual affair.  In December 2008, two Palestinian girls were killed when militants' rockets directed at Israel fell short of their targets.  Two years later, a teenage girl was injured in central Israel when Hamas militants fired rockets on her kibbutz. Unfortunately, at the UN review of Israel’s compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in January, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) squandered the opportunity...

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20 Apr
Latest

UN Racism Conference Starts Today–Ahmadinejad Accuses Israel of Genocide

By Benjamin Schuman-Stoler Well, it's not as if the United Nations Durban II conference against racism was ever going to avoid controversy. The primary storyline going into the conference was the contentious--if not by any means surprising--abstention by the United States and Israel (as well as Canada, Italy, Germany, Australia, and Holland).  But news has just come out about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech earlier today that we must post first. JTA has the scoop on the speech, which occurred a few hours ago, in which European diplomats walked out in protest: In a speech at the U.N.-sponsored anti-racism conference in Geneva, the Iranian president first blamed the West for injustice, then went on the offensive against Israel, calling it the “racist perpetrators of genocide.” “Under the pretext of Jewish suffering, they have helped bring to power the most oppressive, racist regime in Palestine,”...

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15 Dec
Latest

Israel Expels Richard Falk

By Benjamin Schuman-Stoler Israel refused to allow senior UN rights official and Special Rapporteur in the Palestinian territories Richard Falk into the country earlier today, sending him back to the US after he landed at the Tel-Aviv airport. Falk planned the trip to investigate human rights abuses in the Gaza Strip but was expelled, according to Israeli sources in the foreign ministry, because of statements he made comparing Israeli policies in Gaza to Nazi policies during WWII. Falk was notified before his trip that he would not allowed into Israel, whose foreign ministry believes the Princeton professor emeritus has not viewed the circumstances fairly. The BBC has this quote: " does not try to advance human rights, but instead comes with his conclusions ready and those conclusions are of course extreme, methodic criticism of Israel and only of Israel,"...

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14 Oct
Culture, Latest

This Falafel Was Made For You And Me

It looks like the international system of governance is finally paying off. I mean, despite reports that the US and its allies are looking to bypass the UN in order to impose sanctions on Iran, we can all rest assured. The international system of dialogue is finally being put to good use. Right. Lebanon is suing Israel for ownership of its national foods, including falafel, hummus, and tabouleh. I am not making this up. The LA Times and Ha'aretz report: "In a way the Jewish state is trying to claim ownership of traditional Lebanese delicacies like falafel, tabouleh and hummus" Abboud said. According to Abboud, the Lebanese are losing "tens of millions of dollars annually" because Israel is selling and marketing traditional Lebanese dishes. "The Israelis are marketing our main food dishes as if they were Israeli...

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25 Sep
Latest

Jews for Ahmadinejad, Onion-style

In an effort to improve his standing among Jews, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tried yesterday to make out with a member of the ultra-Orthodox sect Neturei Karta. Ahmadinejad has been in the dumps among pro-Semites since giving a speech at the UN earlier this week condemned by Barack Obama as anti-Semitic (see below for the full text). On Wednesday, though, Ahmadinejad met with a group of Neturei Karta rabbis who presented him with a $700 silver trophy and told him they loved him. Neturei Karta, a radical ultra-Orthodox group that believes the Jews should not have their own state in the Holy Land until after the messiah comes, spent Tuesday protesting the protests against Ahmadinejad. According to Ynet, Neturei Karta Rabbi Yisroel David Weiss, who was at the meeting, said that "the encounter was 'very successful' and was conducted...

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24 Sep
Latest

Ahmadinejad's UN Speech, Full Text

We don't think this needs much of an introduction. For more information on the UN meetings this week, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech in particular, go to CNN, BBC, AP, or Al Jazeera. New York, September 23, 2008 In the Name of God the Compassionate, the Merciful "All praise be to Allah, the Lord of the universe, and peace and blessing be upon our Master and Prophet, Mohammad, and his pure household, and his noble companions." "Oh God, hasten the arrival of Imam Al-Mahdi and grant him good health and victory and make us his followers and those who attest to his rightfulness." Mr. President, Excellencies, I am grateful to the Almighty for granting me another opportunity to be present in this world Assembly. In the last three years, I have talked to you about great hopes in the bright future of...

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10 Sep
Latest

Can Israel Kidnap Ahmadinejad??

Interesting news out of Israel yesterday, where Pensioners Affairs Minister Rafi Eitan said Israel could kidnap Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and bring him to court. Eitan, a former Mossad agent who helped track Adolf Eichmann, said: The era of hunting down old Nazis is over, but that's not to say that such operations are completely a thing of the past, and it could very well be that a leader such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suddenly finds himself before the International Criminal Court in The Hague... Those who spread poison and want to eradicate another people has to expect such consequences. Iran reacted immediately, writing a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon: These dangerous threats of resorting to criminal acts against the officials of a sovereign country, or threatening to use force against a member...

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